8 Chapter 6
February 19th, 798 NA
Gremory Castle, Devildom, Underworld
"He must have been busy, Rias." Sona, who was sitting next to her best friend, consoled her.
The crimson-haired girl was quite distraught that Raizel did not come to her birthday party when he had promised that he would.
It had been a year since they became friends, and her life had suddenly become so much more fun with him around.
She loved it whenever he came over, and she was still ever so grateful to him that he had allowed her to keep Shirone as her future Peerage member when he could have easily taken her away and let her stay with her older sister, Kuroka.
"Is it because my parents proposed our marriage that he did not come?" She asked as something clicked in her mind, making her feel even sadder.
"I doubt it." Sona shook her head. "He pretty much initiated the talks about your union."
"Then why?" The eight-year-old girl looked at her most trusted friends, Sona, Akeno, and Shirone, but all three of them did not have an answer to her question.
"How about we go and see him?" Sona proposed.
They were allowed to visit the Darcaedes Castle anytime they wished, so it was possible to go and find the answer to his absence.
"Yes!" The Heiress of Gremory immediately stood up and grabbed her hand, "Let's go!", and dragged her outside the room to go find a servant who could take them to the Darcaedes Castle.
However, as soon as they entered the Main Lobby, a Magical Circle appeared on the floor, and as the crimson light subsided, five figures stood there with smiles on their faces.
"Happy Birthday, dearest Rias!" Raizel, who was not wearing a suit but some sort of battle armour, stepped forward, opening his arms for her, and the girl dropped all her dissatisfaction and rushed forward to hug him.
"You are late!" She still complained, but there was now a smile on her face.
"The day isn't over yet." He chuckled and then looked at the clock that suddenly sounded out. "Now it is."
Everyone laughed at his words and then Shirone happily rushed forward to hug her older sister and receive some love from her.
Sona, who was curiously looking at Raziel and his peerage, could tell that they had been busy with something. And it seemed to be something serious since they were all wearing armour.
"Is everything okay?" She asked and watched Raizel grin at her.
"No."
His answer dismayed them, and then Rias raised her head and looked at him.
"What's wrong?"
"We were fighting a giant from Asgard. It took us some time to deal with him." He revealed, and they all gasped in shock.
"Here?"
"Yes, he escaped Asgard since he committed some crime, and my Mother was requested to send his head. She does not permit any Divine Beings to enter our territory without her permission, so we had to deal with it."
"So she put you to the task." Sona nodded her head understandably.
"Yes." He nodded, and Rias was just glad that he was fine.
"So, where is my birthday gift?" She demanded with a bright smile, changing the subject, and curiously raised her brow when he placed an envelope in her hand. "What's this?" She asked as she opened the decorated seal, and then her eyes widened when she saw the agreement that was inside it.
It was the proposal her parents had sent to Raizel, and he had signed it!
"You are my fiancée now." He grinned and Rias hugged him again, unable to find words to express her feelings.
Everyone around them stepped forward to congratulate the two, but soon a solemn atmosphere dawned on them when Raizel said something unexpected.
"I am leaving the Underworld for a few years."
Rias just stared at him like he did not just say it, but Sona had her guesses about his reasons.
"You are leaving to find more Peerage Members?" The Heiress of Sitri asked.
"Yes, Sona. The giant gave us a lead about an interesting Demi-God that lives on Olympus. I plan on recruiting him."
"You plan to recruit a Demi-God?!" She exclaimed in dismay and watched him nod his head.
"After that, we will just travel around and see if we can find some more members." He informed them, not going into details that he had to go and deal with some stuff as well as to improve on everyone's strength.
"Do you have to?" Rias lowered her head and asked.
"Yes."
The girl stayed still and silent at his reply but then nodded her head.
"When will you be back?"
"Not sure."
"So you won't be attending our Evil Pieces ceremony." She whispered.
The Ceremonies were two years away and she really wanted him to be there, but from his words, she deduced that he would not be coming.
"No promises, Rias." He apologetically said. "But I know that both of you will be fine." He showed his trust in them, but it was not enough to take the hurt away.
"Okay." Rias desolately said, but soon broke down when he pulled her in a tight hug and kissed her head.
"I will bring you a gift." He promised.
"Right." She smiled a little and then allowed him to greet Sona and the rest before he was ready to leave.
Shirone was sad too that she won't be seeing her sister for some years, but she was putting up a brave front despite the tears in her eyes.
How they all wished they could go along with him. But as young as they were, they were not stupid.
They realised that with their current strength, they would only prove to be a burden on him.
The sadness truly kicked in once he left with his peerage, and Rias just hugged the agreement of their marriage as she started walking towards her room.
The next few weeks were very silent in the Gremory Castle as Rias stopped talking to everyone. She ate, slept, and trained, but refused to engage in any conversations and just kept to herself.
Her behaviour worried everyone as they all had failed to realise how attached she had gotten to Raizel.
No one knew how to cheer her up when even her dearest friends failed. But then one day, Sirzechs stepped forward with an idea.
As any doting older brother would do, he did something unexpected to cheer her up and gathered everyone before he brought her to the Hall of Pride, where the Monument of Life was situated.
"Go on." He urged, and Rias looked at him in disbelief.
However, the idea of acquiring her Evil Pieces two years earlier did excite her little, and everyone saw her smile for the first time in several weeks.
Though not unheard of, Pure-Blood Devils were rarely allowed to acquire their Evil Pieces before they have reached the age of 10. But under special circumstances they could receive them early, which was the loophole that Sirzechs exploited, citing that she was the only child of the Gremory Family and needed to bolster her strength as a caution against anything unexpected.
Of course, it was not a sound reason, but given that she was Satan Lucifer's younger sister and the Fiancée of the Prince of Darcaedes Family, the council relented.
"Good luck." Ajuka wished her and then guided her through the process.
Rias winced a little as she made an incision on her palm and placed it on the Monument of Life, pouring her Demonic Power into it.
The process did not take as long as it took for Raizel, and the results soon appeared before everyone.
"Rias Gremory. High-Class Devil."
It was as expected, and then her Evil Pieces started flowing out of the Monument of Life.
She beamed a bright smile when she saw her first Mutation Piece, and her smile only widened when another popped out.
"A Mutated Bishop and a Mutated Pawn. Impressive!" Ajuka congratulated her as he handed her a box to keep her Evil Pieces.
"Thank you!" She was sure that Raizel would be proud of her when he gets to learn that she managed to get not one but two Mutated Pieces.
The first thing that Rias did when they arrived back home was lead Akeno and Shirone into her room. Sona, too, followed them to see the results, and she could not help but smile when she watched Rias not assign them the Evil Pieces but use the spell Raizel had taught them.
And the results were as she had expected.
The Mutated Bishop chose Akeno, and a Rook chose Shirone.
Given that Raizel had tweaked both their Blood, where he overwrote Akeno's Human Blood, and turned both her and Shirone into Half-Devils, they were already enviable servants that any Master would want in their peerage. Their potential was quite scary.
And Sona could not help but remember the day Akeno had finally agreed to go through the procedure.
Raizel truly was a Devil who could convince anyone to go with his plans.
Everyone expected their days to return to normalcy after Rias received her Evil Pieces, but it was not meant to be.
Rias schemed her brother into allowing her to go to Earth, accompanied by his Knight Souji Okita, so that she could find some more servants for her Peerage.
Sona had a hunch that Rias planned on staying away from home until Raizel returns, but she hoped that Rias would return soon. After all, she was all alone now.
